"Green This!" reviews

Green This! Volume 1: Greening Your Cleaning by Deirdre Imus

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
With this last pregnancy, my "mild" chemical sensitivity was kicked up to "totally annoying." I can't be around perfume, bleach, bathroom and kitchen cleaners, etc. Nor can I use anti-persperant, but that's another story. This book talks about how dangerous all those cleaners are, not just for people who are bothered by them, but for all people, especially our young children. She gives practical suggestions, which are few, because you really don't need all that much to keep a clean house. And yes, she is married to Don Imus.

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Greening Your Baby and Child Care: Volume 2 in the Green This! Series by Deirdre Imus

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
Just flipped through this highly anticipated follow-up to Greening Your Cleaning. Already highly disappointed. She's actually suggesting that organic baby formula in a glass baby bottle might be safer and superior to "contaminated" breastmilk. Then she refers mothers who might still choose the frightening avenue of breastfeeding in today's polluted world to La Leche League. If she had read anything about toxins and breastmilk by LLL, she would have learned that even mothers with serious concerns about pollutants in their breastmilk are better off breastfeeding!

I don't know if I have faith in anything else in the book, but I'll read it anyway.

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Deirdre knows her chemicals and environmental toxins, but I would not say she practices natural living or natural parenting. That surprised me for some reason.

Things I liked or agreed with:

wooden toys rather than plastic for babies

the difference between sunblock (zinc or titanium dioxide) and sunscreen (chemically absorbs UV rays)

natural pet care ideas

she has a website called dienviro.com which will consult for free with you about the safety of your kids' school facilities and playground

eat organically when possible

avoid household cleaners, carpeting, petroleum products when possible

always ask questions about ingredients and procedures

advocate for change in your community


What I didn't agree with:

she recommends soy milk over dairy, even organic dairy, citing that even "clean" milk may have too much estrogen in it. Soy is arguably less healthy than dairy. And she doesn't even mention raw milk.

she tells pregnant moms to choose a "green hospital" for her birth, talks about midwives and doulas, and doesn't even mention the option of home! Can't get much "greener" than a homebirth! lol

in the same vein, she talks about green cribs and baby bedding, and doesn't mention co-sleeping as a lifestyle choice.

she chose "green" disposable diapers to cloth because services tend to use "heavy duty toxins" to clean their diapers, and washing them herself was overwhelming.

she spends a lot of time talking about the ins and outs of safe vaccinating, and does not mention or give credence to the option of not vaccinating.... ?

oh, and colic is supposed to get better if you stop eating broccoli! what an old wives' tale!

NO INDEX. That's a huge thing for me. 'Nuff said.

And since you made it this far, I might as well mention something that only began to bother me after I became disillusioned with this book. Her first book, when it was first published, said on the front, "the bestselling Green This! Series." That's some confident marketing, to claim a book is part of a bestselling series when the first book is brand new!

There is a lot of good information in this book, but you have to practice what she preaches and ask yourself lots of questions to decide what you take and what you leave behind.

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